Friction is a feature of intimacy
Bryony Cole is a globally recognised expert on emotional AI, synthetic intimacy and human connection, helping leaders understand how emerging technologies are reshaping culture, trust, wellbeing and decision-making at work and in society.
She is the Founder of a global media and research platform at the forefront of how technology is reshaping intimacy and human connection, engaging audiences through a 10,000+ subscriber newsletter, a top-ranked podcast, and a world-first accelerator in this space. Her work connects entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and policymakers shaping the next generation of AI-enabled products and relationships.
A sought-after keynote speaker, Bryony has presented on leading global stages including TED, SXSW and major technology and innovation forums. In 2025, she will take the TEDNext stage in Atlanta and speak at the AI Summit Europe, exploring the emotional architecture of AI and what it means for leadership, performance and human judgement.
Bryony is also the founder of Sextech School, the first pre-accelerator supporting founders and funders in this emerging category, now recognised as a launchpad for global innovation in intimacy-led technology.
Her insights have featured on Netflix, The Today Show and Viceland, and in The New York Times, Forbes, Wired and TechCrunch. Known for a clear, grounded delivery style, Bryony translates complex and often confronting ideas into practical frameworks leaders can apply immediately.
At the heart of her work is a simple focus: helping organisations engage with AI in ways that strengthen trust, preserve human leadership and support healthy, high-performing cultures.
Talking Points
Love in the Age of AI: The Next Revolution in Intimacy
AI companions are changing how people seek connection, reassurance, and belonging, not just in personal lives, but in the workplace. Bryony Cole explains how synthetic intimacy can train us to expect connection without effort, risking “relational atrophy” and weakening the skills that sustain real relationships and effective teams.Love in the Age of AI: The Next Revolution in Intimacy
She introduces resistance literacy, a practical approach to staying present, building boundaries, and protecting the messy, human experiences that drive trust, collaboration, and leadership. This session equips organisations to navigate the impact of AI on culture, wellbeing, performance and personal relationships.
Key Takeaways:
- How AI companions are redefining love, belonging, and relationship norms and why these matter for workplace culture
- The hidden cost of frictionless connection and its impact on team dynamics, trust, and resilience
- The 3‑Question Diagnostic to assess AI’s influence on relationships across personal, team, and organisational contexts
- Resistance literacy principles to help leaders and teams tolerate imperfection, build boundaries, and protect what makes us human
- Practical strategies for fostering authentic connection and wellbeing alongside emerging technologies
AI Is Doing Your Emotional Labour. Here’s the Cost.
Organisations often manage AI as a tech project, not a human one. Bryony shows how emotionally responsive AI is starting to replace validation, coaching, and decision support, shifting confidence, conflict, and accountability. Leaders learn where AI strengthens performance and where it erodes executive presence and judgment, with a clear diagnostic to design adoption that keeps human leadership intact.AI Is Doing Your Emotional Labour. Here’s the Cost.
Key Takeaways:
- The hidden ways AI reshapes confidence, conflict avoidance, and decision‑making
- A simple 3‑Question Diagnostic to evaluate AI’s impact on your leadership and teams
- Where not to outsource judgment, authority, or emotional regulation
- How to protect executive presence and your voice in an AI‑augmented workplace
- Designing AI adoption that avoids relational atrophy and retains human leadership
Parents & Educators: Your Child’s First AI Relationship
AI companions are now part of young people’s social and emotional lives. Bryony equips schools and parent communities with clear insight into how AI influences attachment, self‑worth, communication, and resilience. The focus is practical: build literacy, set boundaries, and support healthy development without panic or prohibition, so children stay grounded, confident, and connected.Parents & Educators: Your Child’s First AI Relationship
Key Takeaways:
- How AI already shows up in children’s social and emotional worlds
- The risks of avoidance and the opportunity in informed engagement
- Core principles for AI literacy in schools and learning communities
- Practical ways for educators and parents to partner rather than work in silos
- What “keeping kids human” looks like in everyday practice
Parents & Educators Workshop:
A practical 90‑minute session that helps parents move beyond fear or over‑control. Bryony provides language, scenarios, and boundaries families can use immediately to discuss AI, online relationships, and emotional wellbeing. The aim is less anxiety and more trust, clarity, and connection at home.Parents & Educators Workshop:
Key Takeaways:
- How to talk about AI without fear‑mongering or dismissal
- Language for boundaries, consent, and trust with technology
- Early warning signs of over‑reliance or emotional outsourcing
- Confidence to stay present and curious as new technologies emerge
- Age‑appropriate boundaries that protect development without micromanaging
Student Workshop: Staying Human Online: The 3 C’s – Connection, Confidence, Choice
An age‑appropriate, non‑alarmist session that helps students see how AI tools shape emotion, attention, and relationships. The focus is agency. Students learn to recognise when AI helps them practise connection and when it pulls them away from growth, then build a personal 3‑question check‑in they can use anytime.Student Workshop: Staying Human Online: The 3 C’s – Connection, Confidence, Choice
Key Takeaways:
- How AI influences belonging, self‑worth, and social confidence
- The difference between easy connection and relationships that help you grow
- Creating a personal 3‑Question Framework for self‑check
- Using AI to support growth, not avoid real connection
Students & Parents Joint Session: The Intimacy Worth Protecting: Parents and Students Together
A facilitated 60–90 minute session that brings parents and young people together to set shared values‑led boundaries around technology. The focus is trust, presence, curiosity, and staying connected when things feel hard, creating a blueprint families can use as new technologies arrive.Students & Parents Joint Session: The Intimacy Worth Protecting: Parents and Students Together
Key Takeaways:
- Shared, values‑led boundaries for technology use
- Reduced secrecy and shame around AI and chat apps
- Stronger parent–child trust and communication
- A practical blueprint for navigating future technologies together
Video
The AI-Generated Intimacy Crisis | Bryony Cole | TED
Tonight, millions of people will go to bed and whisper to an AI companion. But what are we giving up when we fall in love with machines? Sextech expert Bryony Cole offers three questions to ask yourself if you’re already intimate with AI, laying out a playbook for synthetic companionship that doesn’t hide you from the messiness of human life — but prepares you for it instead.Audio
We engaged Bryony Cole as a keynote speaker for Campaign 360 Singapore 2026 in Singapore, and she was an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish. Bryony brings a style of storyt ... keep reading Campaign Asia
